


Reaching New Heights

by Undue_Brush (orphan_account)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Not Canon Compliant, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27635039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Undue_Brush
Summary: Set three years before Karasuno High School makes their way into the Spring National Tournament also known as ‘the Nationals’ (2009). The story is told in the perspective of Michinari Akagi (Starting Libero for the Hyogo-Based team, Inarizaki) some select chapters will be told in third person or the pov of others that are in the story. The main reason behind the story is to give Akagi a personality as we don’t see much of him the manga nor the show.The plot that drives the manuscript is him working up to be a libero for the Japan National Team, he wants to accomplish to prove all the people who bullied him in Junior High for his height. This was due to the fact that he wanted to be a Wing-Spiker, but he also wanted to be ‘that’ Wing-Spiker and because something horrific happened in a game which changed his perspective forever. But after some self-reflection, he decides to convert to a position that catered for his skill set. He goes through a long journey on the road of his development.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Kozume Kenma, Akagi Michinari/Original Female Character, Amanai Kanoka/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Michimiya Yui/Sawamura Daichi, Nishinoya Yuu/Original Female Character(s), Shimizu Kiyoko/Sugawara Koushi, Tanaka Saeko/Tsukishima Akiteru, Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi, Yachi Hitoka/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	1. Dreams Can Always Be Achieved

_“Left!” I yelled as I raised my hand to indicate that I wanted the ball. Takumi glanced over to the left side of the court; he wanted to check if I was in a good enough position to get a decent spike over. This was just a precaution, he knows that I’m the go-to guy. He nodded at me which was my signal to get the engine going. Takumi zinged the ball across the court._

_“Such perfect form,” Coach Yoshito said._

_“He’s only in Junior High, too,” His assistant replied to him._

_A mischievous smirk grew on his face. I wonder why. Seriously, no sarcasm involved._

_In the air, I feel like I have man-made wings, a bit like me floating in the sky. In my eyes, I’m a **tiny giant.** I relaxed my hand, as you do, then I swung forward. just as I followed through with my spike a blocker jumped out from nowhere. Obviously, this was only one guy, so I usually wouldn’t be scared like this, but this guy was really tall, and he had a lingering presence. _

_So when I noticed this problem I slightly redirected my spike so that it would be a cross-shot. I thought everything was okay, then this_ ** _son of a bitch_ ** _changed the positioning of his hands and he slammed the ball right into the hardwood floor. I lost my concentration so I fell on the floor._

_I looked up at the person who had just started something that would never end._

_“Hey, my name is Tendou Satori. You okay?” He asked me in the most sarcastic tone you could possibly have. I simply replied with a stern_ **_NO_ ** _and got on with the task at hand: which was to conquer the national stage. I mean we were in the finals for christ sake._

_“Oh no; this guy’s serving again,” Takumi said. I snapped out of my daze and looked up to see who was serving._

_Shit._

_He tossed the ball into the air, he jumped up to meet it. His back muscles were arched expertly. Of course they were, he was the ace of Shiratorizawa Academy,_ **Ushiwaka**. When he made contact with the ball he managed to cover the **_ENTIRE_ ** _surface area of the ball which gave him free rein in terms of power and control, I mean how is that even possible we’re nearing the close of the second set. Where does he get the stamina to accomplish all these things? As the good samaritan, this guy was he decided to aim for me._

_I like to think my receiving skills are good enough for me to get by as a starting Libero for a team like Shiratorizawa, at least at my level. I’m still in the process of getting my overhand passing to start working at a decent level ‘cos where I’m at right now isn’t acceptable since I intend on doing big things in the volleyball world. I was right in terms of where to move to be able to attempt a receive but I couldn’t relax my hands enough in time to pull off a clean serve receive due to the sheer amount of power on his monstrous serve. After that, the ball fell on the floor._

_Another point lost because of my mistake. I glanced at the scoreboard and it read 13 - 16 for this set, we had lost the first one so we had to win this one. The gap was beginning to widen a bit. We couldn’t let our dreams of conquering nationals come to nothing. **I’m the ace.** I had to do something about this. I heard the substitution buzzer and at first, I didn’t even consider the possibility of me coming off. But then, I looked over as my curiosity made me want to know who was coming off/on, I saw Kita holding the thing that they use to indicate who they’re switching in for (Forgot what it was called) after I did, time stood still. It had my number on it. **Number 15.**_

_I accepted my fate and left the court to wallow in my shame on the bench. After that, Ushiwaka got service ace after service ace. They were now two points off game point. Then, to my surprise, Coach Yoshito called me over to his bench so he could talk to me. I walked over towards him._

_“Yes, Coach?” I said._

_“I’ve noticed you’re eagerness to get back on the court,” He replied._

_I shuffled uneasily. Am I that easy to read?_

_“I really wanna leave my mark on this game, coach. This is my chance to prove that I’m the ace.”_

_He looked surprised when I said ace. I’m not joking, just because I’m not that good at other things doesn’t mean I can’t be the ace. I am the ace of Inarizaki. And I will continue to be the ace in my third year of Junior high, when I get into the higher section of the school, in college/the national youth team up until I make it to the national first team._

_That’s my calling._ **_To be the ace._ **

"You have high expectations of yourself, don't you Akagi?" Coach asked me.

"Indeed, I do," I replied. 

_He chuckled. “Get out there; prove you’re the ace,”_

_Firstly, let me apologise as I’m about the go off-topic. (The sooner you get used to it the better) But I really hate our away kit; the libero would normally wear white, but in this case, the libero wears black and the rest of us wear white. Just pisses me off a bit. Now we have gotten out of that rant and we can get back to the story._

_I felt ready to come on and make a difference. And I was about to, **but would it be a good one or a bad one?** _


	2. Obstacles

_Finally, after watching my team suffer for the majority of the last half of this set, it was my time to shine, to be the ace of Inarizaki. I was switching in for Ojiro Aran, my long time friend._

_As he walked past me he said “It’s your time,_ **ace**. Nice serve!” I smiled in excitement after I realised that it was my turn to serve, my turn to show my excellence, my turn to show my brilliance, my turn to prove I was the ace!

 _I entered the court. It was as if everyone but my teammates and my coaches were on the receiving end. It felt pretty good. Why? I dunno, it just did. I walked to the serving area, I was handed the ball. I looked at it in with envy; this was going to float its way the floor elegantly._ **_Don’t_ **_call me weird for that, please._

 _This was where I had some thinking to do; I am, in the volleyball world, what is called a ‘dual wielder’ this basically means I have two serving options to choose from, a Jump Floater and a Spike Serve, which are both effective in their own ways. Let me list their advantages and disadvantages to you._ _  
_

_Jump Floater:_

_Advantages:_

  * _Due to the lack of surface area being covered by your hand, the ball tends to shift awkwardly in the air (It doesn’t have a fixed trajectory)_


  * It is not as energy-consuming as a Spike Serve.


  * It is very hard to receive. 



_Disadvantages:_

  * _It is hard to aim due to the lack of hand coverage._


  * It is not as powerful as a spike serves in most cases. 
  * If the opponent can use overhand receives it is simple to get. 



_Spike Serve:_

_Advantages:_

  * _Very powerful serve as the approaching run is used to ‘spike’ the ball._


  * Due to the maximum amount of hand coverage, it is a very precise method of serving.



_Disadvantages:_

  * _Energy-consuming due to approaching run being used._


  * Even if serve is powerful, it has a fixed trajectory. 


  * Very easy to read and receive if opponent receivers are skilled, which they are in my case. 



_I didn’t know what to do in this situation. If I made the wrong decision, it was all over. “Kita?” I whispered to our captain._

_He turned around to respond “I think a Jump Floater will do the trick,” I smiled. With this guy, you didn’t even have to say what you’re struggling with, he just knows. He’s average in terms of his skill level, but he always seems to be calm in important situations like this one we found ourselves in. Such a capable captain. That’s Shinsuke Kita for you._

_The ref blew his whistle, I settled my nerves and then I threw the ball into the air_ _. I took one step, then another, then I made my jump. ‘Where should I aim?’ I asked myself. My gut told me to aim for their Libero. I made contact with the ball, it felt good. It knuckled in the air, as it should._

 _It seemed to be going in the direction of Ushiwaka, then it curved. “I got it,”_ _Yamagata Hayato said (Their Libero)._

_Or so he thought. He slipped out of his perfectly formed overhand receive and fell to the ground._

_“What a serve from Michinari Akagi! Will this be the turning point for Inarizaki Junior High?!” The commentator yelled. It took me 2 seconds to process that I just scored a service ace, then I went ballistic. All my friends ran up to hug me._ _I had fulfilled my duty as the ace: do the unthinkable when it is most needed._

_I glanced at the scoreboard to see where we were in terms of progress. 18 - 20 to Shiratorizawa Academy. The comeback had begun. I got ready to take another serve, but then our opponents called a timeout_ _ , probably to try and break up my flow, our flow. As much as I hated the fact that they tried this, I was also kind of happy; this meant they knew that I was in my zone and they had to physically pull me out of it. If there was ever a chance to prove that I’m capable of being the ace, this was it.  _

_ As I walked over to the bench, I heard some things.  _

_ “That was such a fluke. You’re too short for this game, just quit!” _

_ “You might as well just go into dwarf boxing; you’re only 5”5,” _

_ “In your heart, you know that this sport isn’t for you,” _

_ These words hurt me. But I had to ignore it; I was on a roll and I couldn’t let something as petty as this hurt me. I just had to rise above all the haters by proving to them that I was worth it. We all huddled around Coach Yoshito, waiting for him to give his motivational speech that would carry us through this second set.  _

_ “Guys this is it. I just want to see your hearts being poured into this. Obviously, I wouldn’t mind if we won. But the main point is that you take this seriously. I’m looking at all of you when I say this,” _

_ “Yes sir!” Everyone yelled.  _

_ It was time for me to serve again. I decided that I was going to try and get a spike serve in, just because I had the option. Bragging purposes. _

_ Shinsuke looked back at me with a look that pierced from my soul. He knew. “I know that the option is tempting, but don’t. You’ll mess up your flow,”  _

_ I nodded in agreement. The ref blew his whistle, I threw the ball in the air, took one step, then another, I jumped and made contact with as much power as I could while still remaining the minimum amount of hand coverage. It swivelled around the air, this time I aimed for Ushiwaka himself. I was on course to hit his hands then it bounced off. Just as I thought I was in the clear, that Leon guy dug it up.  _

_ They only had one touch left so their libero hit it over. We had to take this opportunity, Shinsuke bumped it into the air, Takumi stood just under the incoming ball.  _

_ “Left!” I yelled. _

_ He zipped the ball in my direction. The red-haired guy (Tendou) leapt out of nowhere and he was blocking for the cross-shot so I decided to hit a straight. I made contact with the ball. Before I knew it though, the ball was on the floor of my side of the court. I looked up at this guy. “What those people were saying earlier is true, you need height for this. No matter how high you can jump or how fast you are, that height difference makes it so much easier for me to just slap it down on your court, ya know? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you've been enjoying the story so far! Make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments.


	3. Why Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the dying moments of the second set, Akagi is put under heaps of pressure. Takumi tries his best to steer his best friend onto the right path, but will his best be enough to save Inarizaki?

_“Yeah, I know,” I replied._

_“You’re so intriguing; your team is actually making me want to try here,” Tendou said._

_I smirked “Is that so? I guess I have to deliver my A-game now,”_

_He scowled. I love annoying people, especially the ones that mocked my height. Anyway, after that, I got ready to receive another one of Ushiwaka’s serves. I hated having to go through these diabolical serves; they had so much power on them._

_I took a deep breath and got into my receiving form._

* * *

**_(Takumi’s Perspective)_ **

_I glanced back at Michinari, he looked scared. I knew why. The fear of him receiving this serve only to get blocked when it came to him via one of my perfectly timed sets_ **_(Self Promotion - I have to take advantage of the fact that I’m in Akagi’s Book)_ ** _was taking over him._

 _There was nothing I could do to help him personally. But I could steer him onto the right path - I knew just what to do._ _Ushiwaka got ready to serve - let’s skip the detail; you know the procedure._

_Shinsuke received it perfectly, I don’t expect anything less from our captain himself. “Nice receive,” I yelled. “Akagi!” I shouted. He appeared startled but took the opportunity nonetheless and started his approaching run. I hated doing this. Sorry, Michi. “Gin!” I yelled._

_Ginjima, our only first year on the team, was shitting his pants as soon as I said his name. He geared up his approach, leapt up into the air and I pinpointed the ball right at his point of contact. He swung forward and went for the line. Due to the sheer speed on the ball, they didn’t even see the ball coming. They were all focused on Akagi; he had made so many good spikes today. But they needed to realise something; we **aren’t** a one-man team. _

* * *

**_(Coach Yoshito’s Perspective)_ **

_A broad smirk grew on my face; Takumi was operating at his peak. This was our chance to turn the tide of the set. But something came to my realisation; even if everyone else was doing well, that didn’t mean that Akagi was too. This could have just made the set last longer, kind of like a train delay; the outcome would still be the same, but it would just take a longer time to come to pass._

* * *

**_(Takumi’s Perspective)_ **

_ Now it was my turn to serve, I spun the ball in my hands; it’s my routine - don’t judge me. I tossed the ball into the air, set up my approaching run, jumped up and made contact with the _

_ ball. I aimed at their setter; Eita Semi. With limited options, he decided to skip the pass and go straight for a set as he bumped it in their ace’s direction. “Wakatoshi!” He exclaimed.  _

_ Ushiwaka sprung into action and the ball came to him. Our middle blocker, Suna, ran to go and attempt a block. He had Ushiwaka on lock, at least for this play anyway. It was then that I realised that we fucked up; Ushiwaka changed his form into a set and zipped it to Tendou.  _

**_(Now you know where we got this idea from - if you watched our match v Karasuno, you know what I mean)_ **

_ It seemed like all was over, but Akagi came clutch and received the spike with a diving receive. “Nice receive, Akagi!,”. This was his time.  _

_ “Left!” He yelled. A smirk grew on my face; it was time to counter. “Kita!” I exclaimed. Our captain, Kita sprung into action. I zipped it across the court in the blink of an eye. Akagi hopped up to meet it, he was bound to make that point.  _

* * *

**_(Tendou’s Perspective - when Akagi received the spike)_ **

_ I frowned in annoyance; just when you thought that you had beaten these guys, they always bounce back somehow. As much as Michinari suffers from his lack of height he makes up for it with his skill and athleticism. Their genius of a setter, Takumi, pranced into the air as he went up to meet the ball. “Kita!” He called out. Their captain began his approach from the middle, then I noticed Akagi making his jump.  _

_ (This is where I get a bit technical - in terms of blocking anyway) _

_ The block is a very complex play to be able to pull off effectively, so obviously, there are different techniques that are used to make it happen. I use what is called guess blocking, in other words, I move solely on intuition and I only believe the information that my eyes can see.  _

_ In this particular attack there were three  _ **_main_ ** _ possibilities: let me walk you through them.  _

_ 1.Takumi could choose to do a dump.  _

2.He could set it to their captain Kita. 

3\.  He could send it to their ‘ace’ Akagi.

_ He could always pass it to another one of his teammates but he had already gotten too deep into the attack for that. I saw his wrist push forward ever so slightly in the direction of their Captain. But then my body moved as I realised what was going on here, I sprung into the air and slammed the ball onto the other side of the court.  _

_ “Here we meet again,” I said.  _

* * *

**_(Akagi’s Perspective)_ **

_ Why do I always get blocked? I’m supposed to be the ace for christ’s sake! Why does it have to be me? Why can’t Ginjima get blocked? Why me? _

I glanced at the scoreboard and it read. 19 - 22; the gap was beginning to grow. It was now or never, this was where we had to try our hardest to change the tide of the match. There's no need to grovel like a bitch. It's crunch time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How's everyone? I'm still going strong on this fic. I plan to for a long time. I desperately need feedback so I know if what I'm doing is good. Drop a Comment and Subscribe. See you when I see you, I guess? Do people still say that? Let me know with your feedback.


	4. The Last Dance

**_(Kita’s Perspective)_ **

_ When I saw the ball drop my heart sank. As much as I wanted to tell Akagi that everything was going to be ok, I wasn’t sure if it would. He knew this as well.  _

_ “Akagi!” I yelled, which startled him. “Keep your head up; it’s not over yet!”  _

_ Everyone started staring at me awkwardly; they all thought I was an emotionless robot, while that is true when I need to, I can express myself.  _

_ When I noticed a slight smile growing on his face, I knew he was thinking the same thing I was: it’s crunch time.  _

_ “Tendou, Nice Serve!” the Shiratorizawa squad cheered in unison. Tendou hit it over to our libero: Toyoaki Harimoto bumped it into the air. “Nice receive,” I called out. _

_ I glanced at Takumi, who smirked. To the opponents’ surprise, I dashed towards the falling ball and Takumi took my place. Where to send it? I asked myself. “Rintaro,” I said as I set the ball towards our middle blocker, who was in the back row. He sprung into the air, and Ushiwaka and Tendou chased after him, so he decided to improvise by dinking it over the block. The receivers scrambled to dig up the ball, but it was to no avail. _

**_“What an amazing play, Inarizaki’s flexibility at it’s finest! No wonder they made it to the finals!”_ ** _ One of the commentators exclaimed.  _

* * *

**_Information! (From Coach Yoshito)_ **

_ Our squad for this particular match was as follows: _

_ Wing Spiker: Akagi Michinari (Second Year) / Setter: Takumi (Second year) _

_ Wing Spiker / Defensive Specialist: Kita (Captain) (Second Year) / Ojiro Aran  _

_ Middle Blocker: Suna Rintaro (First Year) _

_ Opposite Hitter: Yūsuke Hiroki (Third Year: Later Replaced by Ginjima) _

_ Middle Blocker: Mitsuo Himura (Third Year) / Libero: Toyoaki Harimoto (Third Year) _

_ I know you may be thinking why our Captain was a second year, but Shinsuke would be our captain even if he was a first-year; his presence on the court is unmatched. Even his professional team realised this; he’s the youngest member on his team yet he’s still the captain.  _

* * *

**_(Back to Kita)_ **

_ Our libero switched out for our other middle, Mitsuo Himura. It was my turn to serve. I stood in the serving zone waiting for a ball. “Here,” The ball boy said as he threw me a fresh ball. I _ _ caught it and took a deep breath. “Nice serve” My teammates yelled. I tossed the ball into the air, took one step, then another, I jumped and made contact with the ball.  _

_ It was easily received by Ushiwaka despite the swerve on the ball. “Right!” He exclaimed.  _

_ Their setter, Semi, considered his options, leapt into the air and positioned himself underneath the ball. I saw Akagi’s eyes reading all the information that he could gather on the other side of the net, then Semi flashed the ball over to Leon as he yelled “Leon!”.  _

_ After noticing this Akagi committed to blocking Leon, as Coach Yoshito instructed him to during the last time out we had. He ran up to attempt the block, waited for a split-second so that the ball could get closer to Leon and sprung into the air with perfect timing; Leon slapped the ball right into Akagi’s block and it fell right into his side of the court.  _

* * *

**_(Akagi’s Perspective)_ **

_ I landed perfectly after that insane block; there wasn’t any time to celebrate unnecessarily, I had to get straight back to business. I looked over at the scoreboard; it read: 21 - 22 to Shiratorizawa; the gap was beginning to shorten a bit, but I couldn’t get excited too early because with my luck I’d probably end up losing anyway.  _

_ It was Rintaro’s time to serve. He hit it over; no description for his technique due to the fact he used a normal float serve at this time. Tendou bumped it perfectly to their setter, Semi, but then he (Semi) was static and the ball dropped. Ushiwaka looked perplexed to what he had just seen his teammate do. I saw Coach Yoshito smirk.  _

**_The score was now level._ ** __

_ “Sorry! Won’t happen again,” Semi explained as he breathed heavily while holding his knees.  _

_ Our third-year middle Mitsuo bounced the ball five times, tossed the ball in the air and did his approaching run, so then he could make contact with the ball. Their other middle Kazuto got ready to bump it into the air “Ushijima,” He called out as he passed it in the direction of the ace. But Ushiwaka wasn’t showing any intention of hitting the ball; this was because he was planning to set it, I knew this due to the fact that he had shown that this was an option.  _

_ “Leon!” Ushiwaka yelled as he set it towards the back row where Leon was and he made contact with the ball with maximum power. It hit the net and was destined to make it’s way to the floor… _

_ BUT THEN KITA CAME CLUTCH and received the falling ball. The only downside was that it went up and Takumi was in the back row; he was expecting a powerful hit. So I improvised and dashed over to meet the falling ball, I considered my options: _

  * _I could dump the ball._


  * I could set it to Gin. 


  * I could set it to Takumi. 


  * I could set it to Mitsuo. 


  * I could set it to Rintaro.



_ "Takumi,” I called out as I discreetly looked at Suna. Takumi made his approach. _

_ Suna got the idea and approached the space as I set the ball to him. Tendou caught us out and dashed after suna, but then Rintaro moved his body so he was at a different angle and hit at the open space.  _

_ 23 - 22 to Inarizaki.  _

_ “The second years of Inarizaki show their class once again! Michinari Akagi can do anything, can’t he?! _

**_Off Topic warning!_ **

_ Me and Tendou are actually good friends in the present day, I just had a lot of hate for him back in Middle School (When this match took place) and High School. We actually play for the same professional team. So yeah _

**_(Back to Match)_ **

_ Me and Rintaro did our little handshake or whatever and got back to business as usual. Mitsuo hit it over and Kazuto received it tidily. Semi moved quickly towards the ball and within the blink of an eye, Ushiwaka had already slammed it onto our court.  _

_ They meant business. It was gonna be a tight one from here. 23 - 23.  _

_ Ushiwaka stepped up to serve and hit it over with terrifying force. “Out!” I yelled. I turned around; I was right. At this point in the match, I was exhausted; my muscles were dying, I was dehydrated, every time I tried to jump my legs told me not to, but at the end of the day, it would be worth it. If we won… 24 - 23 _

_ It was my turn to serve. I decided to just do a normal serve because of how tired I was, but then Kita looked back at me with a look that told me ‘Now’s the time for that Spike Serve,’ This was my time to take the set, it was set point.  _

_ I brought the ball close to my mouth and breathed on it: it’s my Spike Serve routine. I threw the ball into the air, took a few steps, jumped and hit the ball with maximum force. Yamagata bumped it into the air and Semi said “Ushijima,” as he set a high toss to their ace. Ushiwaka began his approach and met the toss in the air as he slapped it onto our court. It was so powerful it went into the stands.  _

_ 24 - 24 a deuce.  _


	5. The Dreaded Deuce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The deuce begins. Everyone is exhausted, but who will win in these tough conditions?

_ Once I realised that we were going to have to go through ‘the dreaded deuce’ I fell to the ground to wallow in my misery. My armpits had been collecting sweat for a long time now, so I was drenched, then I heard a whistle. I glanced over to the Shiratorizawa bench and I saw their coach, Tanji Washijo, signalling for a timeout. I was relieved; it meant that I could take a break and drink some water. I picked up my bottle and drank my water with a sense of desperation.  _

_ “You’re thirsty, aren’t you?” Suna asked me.  _

_ I dropped my bottle, dried my mouth off with my sleeve and took the chance to catch my breath; I drank a lot of water. “Yeah, man. I really need to start wearing deodorant before games,” _

_ “Yeah. You  _ **_need_ ** _ to,” Suna told me with a grimace in his voice as he took a step away from me.  _

_ “Come on, it’s not  _ **_that_ ** _ bad. Is it?” I asked my friend with genuine curiosity.  _

_ “It is,” He replied.  _

_ I grunted. I turned around because Coach Yoshito was going to do his speech now. “Boys, you’ve made it this far, we can’t lose now. Both of us coaches have used up our time outs, there’s nothing more we can do to affect the result. So when I see you next, return as victors!” _

_ We all huddled around Kita, “Come on!” We yelled in unison as we got to our places. I looked on the other side of the court and I was disappointed; Ushijima (He said I should stop branding him as Ushiwaka in the book) was in the serving zone. “Nice serve, Wakatoshi!” The Shiratorizawa squad yelled in unison. He stepped up to serve and did his usual routine, but this time the ball knuckled while in the air as if it was a Jump Float when he used the approach that corresponds with a Spike Serve. ‘Aint nothing this guy can’t do :/ Kita bumped it towards Takumi perfectly despite the illusion of Ushijima’s serve.  _

* * *

**_(Takumi’s Perspective)_ **

_ Kita passed the ball to me and I decided to do a normal set instead of a jump; they were really starting to wear me out. I usually only do them because it’s harder for the blockers to read your form. I moved toward the ball and chose to set to Mitsuo “ Mitsuo!” I called out. He began his approach and I chose to do a freak set. This is where I pinpoint the ball right where the spiker meets it with maximum speed.  _

_ Mitsuo smacked it down onto the Shiratorizawa court with power. Just  _ **_one_ ** _ more point. It was Kita’s turn to serve. He served it over to their other middle blocker, Kazuto. It was received, but it was difficult so it broke their position. I smiled, this was perfect. Semi rushed over toward the falling ball with urgency; no mistakes could be made from here on out.  _

_ “Wakatoshi!” He screamed.  _

_ He back set it to Ushijima who got past Suna’s block; he was expecting a line shot, but Wakatoshi cut across. I thought that was one point lost, but then Akagi rushed over and kept the play alive with an excellent diving receive. The ball went up into the air gracefully, a tear trickled down my cheek. This wasn’t a tear of sadness, this was a tear of joy. “Nice recieve!” _

_ “Right!” Ginjima yelled. This occurrence caught me off guard; Ginjima was never the most communicative, maybe Akagi’s brilliance affected him, I’ll never know for sure though. This was probably the turning point in his career, that led him to where he is today. _

_ I glanced over to see if he was in a good enough position to able to get a clean spike off. Tendou was closely marking him, but that wouldn’t be a problem. “Gin!” _

_ I zipped the set towards Gin, Tendou and Kauzto chased after him. He positioned himself for a cross, but then he used his left hand; he’s ambidextrous. Just as I thought he was gonna make the point, Ushijima dug it up. Semi underhanded it to Leon who hit it in the open space.  _

_ 24 - 25 to Shiratorizawa  _

_ It was beginning to become a problematic situation. Yusuke swapped in for Ginjima. Tendou served the ball over, it hit the net. Then I scrambled to get it into the air. I managed to get it up. “Akagi!” I yelled as I got up.  _

_ Akagi made his way toward the ball with urgency. “Yusuke!” He called out.  _

_ Our ‘real’ ace Yusuke leapt into the air as Akagi zipped the ball towards him at speed. Yusuke hit a super straight line shot; Tendou and Kazuto were blocking the cross because Yusuke had made a lot of them today, but they needed to learn that the ace can do anything.  _

_ Yusuke made the point expertly.  _

_ 25 - 25.  _

_ It was my turn to serve; unlike before, for whatever reason, I felt peculiarly energetic. So I opted to do my jump serve. I tossed the ball into the air, took a few steps, jumped and hit the ball with maximum force. Within the blink of an eye, it was already on the Shiratorizawa court. _

* * *

**_(Akagi’s Perspective)_ **

_ Takumi hit a deadly serve even Ushijima was perplexed and that’s saying something. The ref held his flag upward which stopped me in my tracks. It was out. I was almost certain that it had landed perfectly, but unfortunately, it didn’t.   
_

_ 25 - 26 to Shiratorizawa.  _

_ Kazuto hit it over, Yusuke received it cleanly, Takumi leapt up into the air.  _

_ “Akagi!” He screamed.  _

_ I answered the call to duty and leapt into the air with as much force as my legs could muster. Takumi zipped it to me with speed, I hit it with the intent of a line shot. Then, out of nowhere, Tendou leapt into the air. As I was still following through, I decided to switch over to a cross. “Uh, uh,” Tendou said as he switched the positioning of his hands and slapped it down onto my court.  _

_ Just like that, it was over. _


	6. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiratorizawa has beaten Inarizaki and the losing side make their way home. What will happen on the way there though?

_ The ref blew his whistle and I fell to my knees. We had just lost the Final of the National Tournament. We had come all this way for nothing. From the prefectural preliminaries to the finals, just to lose.  _

_ I heard footsteps; I glanced upwards. It was Takumi with his hand stretched out, I accepted his offer and let him help me up.  _

_ “Akagi, I know you’re the one most affected by this, but we always have next-” I cut him off mid-sentence. _

_ “NO! You don’t understand, this was my chance to prove I could be the ace despite my height. Yusuke had more of an impact than me and he was on the bench for a while. Tendou’s right; I’m just not cut out to be the ace,” _

_ “You know that’s not true. The spikes you landed today were high level. You even helped to inspire Ginjima” _

_ “I don’t give a damn about Ginjima!” I explained _

_ Gin looked over toward me with disgust. _

_ I stuck my tongue out at him. “Takumi, my point is that I’m giving up this dream of being the ace. The only good thing I did today is making  _ **_some_ ** _ clutch receives, so I might as well be a libero.” I said sarcastically.  _

_ Kita walked over toward me and Takumi. He said “Coach Yoshito said that we need to get ready to leave,” _

_ “What about the rewards ceremony?” I asked.  _

_ “You should know me by now. We didn’t win; we don’t deserve to go to the ceremony. I’m not going to accept any runners up medals. Now get ready to leave,” Kita explained.  _

_ We walked over to the bench and picked up our bags. We walked out of the court area. As I was in the hallway, I noticed our libero curled up beside a wall.  _

_ “Harimoto?” I said.  _

_ He looked up at me with teary eyes; I crouched down so I could get down to his level “What’s wrong man? I know we lost, but out of everyone I thought you would’ve gotten over it now,” _

_ He took a deep breath “When we started the second set, Ushiwaka hit a deadly serve and I couldn’t receive it. And I’m almost certain that was the point that tipped the game in their favour. How can I call myself the Libero if I’m not dependable defensively?” _

_ “I’m facing the same dilemma as you are, Harimoto. I mean, I claim to be the future ace; I can’t exactly compete with the likes of Yusuke or Ojiro, but I couldn’t come through at the moments that I needed to. That’s alright though. You just need to look at what you did well today,” I said.  _

_ Then out of nowhere, a child with black hair dashed out of the gymnasium with urgency. “Is that you, Mr Takumi?!” He yelled at my friend.  _

_ Mr Takumi? Why does he get the grade school fanboy?  _

_ “Yeah, that’s me,” He responded. _

_ “Your sets were crazy out there. You were like swoosh and zoom and kapow,” The child said.  _

_ Takumi scratched the back of his head “I guess so? Are you a setter too?” Takumi asked the little boy.  _

_ “Yeah!”  _

_ “What’s your name?” Takumi asked.  _

_ "Tobio Kageyama. Make sure to remember it because one day I’ll play against you and beat you,” _

_ I pulled an expression that I don’t even know the name of.  _

_ Takumi crouched down and shook Tobio’s hand. “I’ll look forward to it,”  _

_ Me, Takumi and Harimoto made our way to the team bus; I walked on with my head hung low. I didn’t think that I had to look at my teammates, after all, I was the one that conceded the last point.  _

_ “Head up Akagi,” Coach Yoshito ordered. _

_ I looked up at him. He was smiling. “You tried your best. We’ll talk about what you did wrong later, try to look at the bright side to all of this,” _

_ I let out a small smile. I took my seat next to Kita, why did I choose to sit with him before we left? It was probably because I was certain that we were gonna win and I wanted him to shower me with praise. But I was gonna get the exact opposite now. _

_ It was going to be a long ride home.  _

**_(Tendou’s Perspective)_ **

_ Ushijima was preparing to lift the trophy and I was in deep thought. “Wakatoshi,” _

_ “Yeah,” Ushijima responded.  _

_ “That Akagi guy was kinda good wasn’t he? _

_ “I guess so. On the other hand, he seemed like the run of the mill passion merchant who thinks they can do anything if they put their minds to it.  _ **_(A passion merchant is someone who is just passionate, but possess no actual talent in their field)_ ** _ people like that piss me off. Only the gifted can make it in this world,” _

_ I raised a brow; the emotionless Ushiwaka (I don’t care about your threats. I will keep calling you Ushiwaka - Akagi don’t take this out) shows his opinion on a subject other than his love for deodorant adverts.  _

_ “You seem oddly expressive about this. I guess it was time for a change. But I guess you’re right; you have to have a set of skills from the get-go to achieve anything, I don’t believe in hard work. I mean, you need to refine the skills that you  _ **_already have_ ** _ , but you need to be born with these fundamentals,” _

**_(Akagi’s Perspective)_ **

_ I stared out of the window into the flooded countryside; boredom was really starting to get to me now. I was tempted to try and communicate with Kita, but it was a suicide mission; he was waiting for me to ask him something so he could reference the game and I didn’t feel like giving him the pleasure of that.  _

_ “Why don’t you become a Libero?” Kita asked me.  _

_ “Why would I? Not exactly what I’ve been training for all this time,” I replied.  _

_ “You made some essential receives today. At least you did something good today,” Shinsuke said.  _

_ Takumi stood up and whispered into Kita’s ear. I heard what he said; Takumi is trash at talking quietly, he said “Go easy on him captain,”  _

_ Kita nodded in response.  _

_ “As much as it sounds appealing, I don’t think I’d suit that position,” I explained.  _

_ “Akagi I don’t think you understand; I’m ordering you to do this. I’m the captain, remember? Failure to do so will result in your permanent exclusion from club activities,”  _

_ I blinked several times to show my shock “Are you being… serious?” _

_ “Try me,” He replied.  _

_ I then realised there was no way out of this. My Libero journey had begun.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for keeping up with the fic (if you have obviously). Things are rapidly unfolding here and we're now approaching the end of the first major part of the story. The first arc has taken its place. Please leave your feedback in the comments and drop a kudos if you haven't already. 
> 
> (Gotta start writing longer chapters 0_0) Dw bout it, I will.


	7. Chapter 7

“I got it!” I yelled as I bumped the ball toward Takumi.

“Nice receive,” My teammates yelled in unison 

Before you go any further, let me update you on the situation. This particular event is taking place a week after the Nationals; its a practice match against Tokyo-based team Itachiyama Junior High who we beat in the quarter-finals. 

The purpose of this was to test out my abilities as a libero against the #1 Junior High ace: Kiyoomi Sakusa. Just a thought here - why were all of the good aces second-years? Just something for you to think about.

Takumi positioned himself underneath the falling ball and yelled “Yusuke!” as he zipped the ball towards our ace. Yusuke leapt into the air with as much power he could generate and hit a cross-shot. Itachiyama’s libero, Komori, dived to receive the ball, in which he succeeded.  “Sakusa!” Their setter yelled as he zipped the ball to his #1 hitter. 

Suna and Mitsuo rushed over to attempt a two-man block; they sprung into the air. 

**(Sakusa’s perspective)**

I jumped into the air with force. I noticed two blockers making their approach - ugh. Why do they keep making my job harder? That’s not even the problem; the problem is that they keep failing. I hit the ball with minimum hand coverage toward the line on the right side. 

**(Akagi’s perspective)**

The ball curved toward the line and I rushed over to receive it; I formed an overhand receive and everything was going well then the ball suddenly had a lot of weight on it, then it slipped through my receive. I grimaced as I heard the ball drop. We move. 

I got into my receive form so I could get the next serve; Sakusa seemed to be aiming at me this match. He tossed the ball into the air, took a few steps and hit it with little force - a dink. 

I rushed over to the front in an attempt to dig it up. I managed to do so, but it went over to the back row. Aran rushed over toward the ball and called out “Gin!” Ginjima, who was playing where I usually would (Left Wing-Spiker) began his approach as Aran who back set it to him. 

Ginjima slapped it down onto the court with force and managed to get the point. Just like that, we had won the last set. A smile grew on my face. 

* * *

“See you all tomorrow!” I yelled at everyone as I left the gym to make my way home. 

As soon as I got off the school premises, I turned on my phone and flicked through the couple notifications that had been piling up during practice. One of them, in particular, drew my

attention - a missed call from my sister, who was a first-year that attended my school. I tapped on it; I wanted to call her back. When the line started ringing, I held the phone next to my ear. 

“Hey!” Mitsue yelled. 

I took the phone away from my ear. 

“You don’t have to be so loud. Anywho, why were you spamming my phone with calls?”

“I wasn’t spamming…” She countered. 

“You were,” I replied.

“Okay, then. I was, but it was for a good reason - mum decided to take an extra night shift and she said that you have to make dinner ‘cause she didn’t have time make anything for us,”

“K then. So what is it that you really want for dinner?” I asked; I knew that she didn’t want anything that I could cook. 

“Um. I feel like having some yakitori,” She replied. 

“Noted. I’ll be home in half an hour,”

* * *

After picking up my sister’s dinner, I made my way to the local train station; it was the fastest way to get home. I tapped my card on the designated area on the grey ticket gate and it opened up allowing me to walk through. 

I picked up a newspaper and walked down the stairs leading to my platform. 

I took a seat in the waiting room; I was gonna on the platform for a decent amount of time because the next train was coming in about 10 minutes. I chose to flick through the newspaper I had picked up to see if there were any fast food coupons - ugh. There weren’t any; I went to the sports pages and the most noticeable headline was:

**‘Japanese National Volleyball Team Triumph In Five-Set Thriller Against Brazil’**

“I would love to be a pro volleyball player. One day,” 

Fin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After writing this, I'm not very proud of myself; I feel like it was the worst chapter yet :/ It was probably because I didn't know what to write that matched the context of the chapter. It's also short. I'll drop another on Tuesday and I hope it'll turn out better.


	8. Saturday - Part 1

**Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.**

I rolled around in my bed, “Okay, I get it!” I called out as I switched off my alarm. I sat upright and glanced out of the window - it was pitch black outside. That’s January for you. I launched my duvet across the room and stood up. 

Ping. 

I could see my phone in the corner of my eye on my desk. I walked over to the desk, plopped myself onto my chair and switched on my phone. I proceeded to flick through my notifications; I skipped through all of the useless ones such as messages from Ginjima - he just sends you pictures of his accomplishments on Call of Duty. I opened up my messaging app and clicked on the team group chat. 

The latest message was:

**Kita: Good Morning. Coach Yoshito told me to inform you of an upcoming training camp. It will take place during the following period: Tuesday 17th January to Monday 23rd January at Nekoma High School.**

A tingling sensation rushed throughout my body; we were going to be attending a training camp at a High School and there would probably be some outstanding players there. Then my phone started ringing - it was a call from Kita. 

“Hello?” I said. 

“Hey. I hope I haven’t rushed you into this Libero thing too much? I was just messing around when I said you have no chance; I wanted to see how you’d handle the news” He asked me with concern. 

“Nah. It’s fine it’s probably for the best anyway. I’ve realised that I’m not built to be the ace; I’m just not tall enough,” I explained. 

“That’s not the sort of mindset you should have, Akagi,”

“It’s my **personal choice, Kita**. This is how it should be and if I ever feel like reverting to my old position, I will” I insisted. 

“Okay then, if that’s what you wish, so be it. See you on Monday,” Kita said.

“Yeah, bye,” I responded. 

After the line cut, I put my phone to charge - I had forgotten to take care of it the previous night, then I got up from my chair and made my way to the door. I knocked on Mitsue’s door and said “Wake up, Mitsue. I’m gonna make breakfast soon and I want you downstairs when it’s ready,”

“Coming!” Mitsue yelled from the other side of the door. 

I made my way down the stairs and once I was downstairs, I ruffled around for the TV remote so I could slap on the news while I was cooking. After a few minutes of pointless searching, I decided to give up and walked over to the TV. I turned it on via the buttons on the back and luckily it was already on the news channel. I turned up the volume slightly so I could hear the news over the kitchen appliances. 

Then I walked through to the Kitchen. **It was one of the ones that were part of the sitting room.** I opened the fridge, got some ingredients and got to work 

**Information! From Akagi.**

The meal I was preparing was a classic breakfast (In Japan anyway) the recipe was as follows:

 **Classic Japanese Breakfast** **(Varies in Every Family)**

**Serves Two**

**Ingredients:**

  * **Four Sausages**


  * **Four Eggs**


  * **Two Slices of Wholemeal Bread (Gotta Stay Healthy)**



**Stage One:**

  * **Grab a frying pan and put some oil in to heat up.**


  * **Crack your eggs into a bowl.**


  * **Then season them (Salt, Soy Sauce, Pepper, Onion Powder, Chicken Seasoning etc)**


  * **After that, whisk your eggs with a fork until they look like a mixture.**


  * **Pour your egg mixture into the heated oil.**


  * **Constantly mix them up until you can’t see the yolk.**



**Stage Two:**

  * **With your oil pan-fry, your sausages until they’re dark brown.**


  * **Then put your bread in your toaster at your desired temperature.**


  * **Serve accordingly.**



After I finished preparing breakfast, I took the plates, placed them on the dining table and yelled “Mitsue! Breakfast’s ready!”

I heard my sister’s feet slowly making their way down the stairs, I took a seat on the table and said my prayers, after that I dug in. Mitsue walked in and plopped herself onto a chair opposite mine. 

“Looks good,” She said. 

“Thanks,” I replied.

She said her prayers and began to tuck into her meal. “Anyway, how’s volleyball? Ginjima said you had a practice match yesterday,” She asked me with genuine concern in her voice. 

**FYI: Ginjima was in the same class as my sister; they were both 1st years in Junior High and they were both very close.**

“It’s going well. I’ve been working on my craft; I need to get better,” I said while staring at my sausage. 

“You seem very invested in the idea of making it as a pro, huh?” Mitsue queried. 

“Of course. At least, that’s my intention,” I responded. 

“Good. I wanna be able to brag that my brother is on the national volleyball team,” She said. 

“Don’t worry, that day will come. I hope,” 

After tending to the dishes, I made my way up to my room and grabbed my phone. I went back down, parked myself on the couch and picked up my PS3 controller. I held down on the ps button; I wanted to turn on the PlayStation. Then the startup screen came up and while I was waiting I turned on my phone. 

I rang up Ginjima. 

“Akagi?” Gin asked on the other side of the line. 

“Yeh, it’s me. Are you on COD?” 

“Is that even a question?” Ginjima queried. 

“I guess not,” I said as I rolled my eyes. 

“Why you asking?” Ginjima interrogated. 

“I wanna 1v1 you,” 

“You... want to 1v1 the King of 1v1’s?” Ginjima questioned. 

“You may be the king, but I’m the emperor of 1v1’s,” I asserted. 

Ping. 

“Hold on, Ginjima,” 

“Cool,” He responded. 

I pulled my phone away from my ear and clicked on my latest notification. I did my password; so I could view the message. It was from Kita and it read: 

**Kita: Me, Yusuke, Rintaro, Mitsuo, Takumi and Ojiro are going to the Gym to play some 4v4 games. We plan on switching positions throughout, in preparation for the upcoming training camp. Are you available? If so meet up in an hour and ask Ginjima to tag along.**

“Gin,”

“Yeah?” He replied.

“Kita is holding some three on three games at school, are you down to come with?” I raised. 

“I mean, it’s probably for the best ‘cuz it means I won’t be grinding out COD,” Ginjima said. 

“Cool. I’ll come to your house now,” I established. 

“See ya then,” Ginjima said as he cut the call. 

I groaned in annoyance; as much as I wanted to go and play some volleyball, I wanted to level up my gear on COD. I turned off the console along with the TV and went into the storage cabinet to search for my bag. After retrieving it, I yelled “Mitsue! I’m going to go play some matches at school. See ya later, ok?” 

“Yeah,” Mitsue replied. 

I grabbed my coat off the rack and set off into the outdoors. I walked down the street to Ginjima’s house; we live on the same road - another reason why he and Mitsue were so close. Once getting there, I knocked on his door and waited for a response. Ginjima opened the door with a slice of toast in his mouth. 

“Hey,” He managed to say despite the current situation. 

“Yeah. Hi…” I replied. 

“Let’s go play some volleyball!” Ginjima muffled. 

"Yep."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: I'll be starting an Oikawa fic soon. Title: The Curse of The Ordinary. So make sure to look out for that, anyway I hope this chapter was better than the last one.


End file.
